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This essay focus on the European Union and its democracy both from a national perspec­tive and from an international perspective. Furthermore, the essay center on the con­cept of democratic deficit, this in order to study the European Union´s status regarding the democratic legitimacy. This study intends to nuance the problems that previous research and previous researchers have de­fined as democratic deficits in the European Union and ends up in conducting a textual anal­ysis of the latest European Union treaty, the Lisbon Treaty. The aim is that by using previous research on the democratic deficit in the European Union examine whether the Lisbon Treaty has enhanced the EU's position regarding democratic legitimacy. In other words, my study aims to identify what the deficit is and if it exists. The results show that the Lisbon Treaty has been trying to improve the democratic legitimacy and that some practical adjustments have been made, but it also show that there is much that still can be improved before citizens have full democratic rights.

Is the credibility of today's Swedish security policy under question? Through two world wars and the years that followed Sweden has invoked a policy of neutrality and military nonalignment. This policy has come to be perceived as an integral part of the Swedish national identity. Is it possible then that Sweden’s past and present strategic narratives could be contested? This thesis investigates whether or not there is consistency in the narratives expressed by both right wing Swedish governments and socialist Swedish governments. The narratives of both parties are examined during two separate eras of history; the Cold War era of the 1980s is compared with the current more globalized era of the 2010s. A constructivist perspective is utilized in the analysis and a narrative analysis is applied. The results show that there has been significant consistency in the narratives of Swedish security policy from both right wing and socialist governments. There is much greater variation shown between the two eras than there is between the two parties themselves. / Är dagens svenska säkerhetspolitik trovärdig eller omstridd? Allt sedan världskrigen har svenska regeringar förhållit sig till en grundläggande idé om svensk neutralitet och alliansfrihet. Denna politik har kommit att betraktas som en väsentlig del av svensk nationell identitet. Samtidigt har inriktningen för den svenska säkerhetspolitiken förändrats vid ett antal tillfällen under de senaste decennierna och gått från neutralitet till solidaritet. Är det då möjligt att gångna som nutida svenska strategiska narrativ är omstridda? Denna uppsats undersöker hur konsekventa svenska säkerhetspolitiska narrativ har varit. Detta genom att granska de narrativ som konstruerats av respektive socialdemokratiska och borgerliga regeringskoalitioner. Dessa narrativ jämförs både inom och mellan två historiska epoker; det kalla krigets 1980-tal och det nutida globaliserade 2010-talet, med specifika nedslag för åren 1982, 1987, 2009 och 2015. Uppsatsen tar utgångspunkt i ett konstruktivistiskt perspektiv och en narrativanalys tillämpas i analysen. Resultatet indikerar en betydande samstämmighet inom svensk säkerhetspolitik mellan borgerliga och socialdemokratiska regeringar. En betydligt större variation framträder i en jämförelse emellan de olika tidsepokerna än emellan samtida regeringar av olika politiska färger.

The national spatial planning guidelines and the subsequent legal regulation in the Natural Resources Act and the Environmental Code has been a part of the Swedish planning system for almost 40 years. In the recent years, critics have claimed that the regulations are outdated and does not work the way it was intended. This paper examines closer why it is perceived that the regulations does not work, with a focus on how the national interests are managed in the municipal planning. Why is the national interests not applied in the municipal planning as intended? Is the error in the system or in the implementation of it? The aim of this essay is to study the gap between theory and practice by studying how the land management provisions in the Environmental Code is applied in five selected municipalities. The aim is also to find interesting issues for futher studies of the topic. The problem is specified as the differense between how the legal clauses are applied and how they were intended to be applied. Amongst other aspects, the essay studies how the organisation of the municipality and the political governing affects the practice. Three methods is used. Intervention theory is used to interpret the the Environmental Code’s land management provisions, comparative analysis to identify factors which are likely to affect the municipal planning and qualitative inteview to attain deeper knowledge about how the planning is implemented in the municipalities. The land management provisions of the Environmental Code’s 3 and 4 chapters can be traced directly to the national spatial planning during the 70’s and 80’s. Since the national spatial planning until today, several system models have been used to visualize the procedure and coordination between different public agencies. In chapter 5 an intervention theory is summarized and two new models are created. Chapter 6 descibes how the five selected municipalities have specially accounted for the national interest in the comprehensive plan. Three factors are studied; how the national interests are accounted for in the comprehensive plan; if all land management provisions are accounted for; and if the municipality describes how they intend to protect the national intresets from palpable damage. The study shows that three of the municipalities specially account for the national interests in a seperated chapter or annex. Two of the municipalities acount for all management provisions and three of the municipalites descibes at least one of the protection of the national intrerest in detail. Thus, two of the municipalities are assessed to have a complete knowledge base in the comprehensive plan for continuing working with the national intrerest in detailed planning and building permit processing. (94) 7 In chapter 7 a number of factors which are believed to affect the municipalities way of account for the national interests are compared through comparative analysis. Factors such as population, access to enhanced knowledge base from a national agency and political governance is studied and compared between the municipalities. Chapter 8 presents interviews with officals and politicians in the selected municipalities and county administration. From the interviews a number of interesting topics are detected. A good knowledge and planning base is very important for the municipal planning, and the comprehensive plan is important for the land management provisions to work the way they were intended. Chapter 9 presents the conclusion of the essay. The first conclusion is that there are a lack of guidelines in the municipalities’ comprehensive plans for how to process detailed plans and building permits in areas of national interest. The second conclusion is that some national interests are descibed better than others in the comprehensive plan. The third conclusion is that the couty board is affecting the way the municipalities view the national interests. / Den fysiska riksplaneringens riktlinjer och den senare lagregleringen av dem i NRL och MB har varit en del av det svenska planeringssystemet i snart 40 år. De senaste åren har kritik riktats mot att systemet är föråldrat och inte fungerar på det vis det var tänkt. Denna uppsats undersöker närmare uppfattningen av att hushållningsbestämmelserna inte fungerar, med fokus på hur man i den kommunala planeringen hanterar riksintressena. Varför fungerar inte planeringen av riksintressena som tänkt? Ligger felet i systemet eller i tillämpningen av det? Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera vad som orsakar glappet mellan teori och praktik, genom att studera hur hushållningsbestämmelserna tillämpas i fem utvalda kommuner. Syftet med studien är också att hitta intressanta frågeställningar för vidare studier av ämnet. Problemet preciseras till skillnaden mellan tillämpningen av lagstiftningen och hur det var tänkt att tillämpas. I uppsatsen studeras bland annat hur kommuners organisation och politiska styrning påverkar tillämpningen. Tre metoder används. Interventionsteori för att tolka hushållningsbestämmelserna, komparativ analys för att identifiera faktorer som kan påverka kommunernas arbete med riksintressen och kvalitativ intervju för att uppnå fördjupad kunskap om kommunernas arbete. Hushållningsbestämmelserna i miljöbalkens 3 och 4 kapitel kan härledas direkt till riksplaneringen under 70- och 80-talet. Naturresurslagen trädde i kraft 1987, och hushållningsbestämmelserna överfördes oförändrade till Miljöbalken 1998. Flera modeller har används för att visualisera hur samordningen mellan myndigheterna ska ske, både under fysiska riksplaneringen och under senaste året. I kapitel 5 sammanfattas interventionsteorin och två systemmodeller konstrueras. I kapitel 6 beskrivs hur kommunernas särskilda redovisning av riksintressen i översiktsplanen. Tre faktorer studeras: hur riksintressena redovisas; om samtliga hushållningsbestämmelser redovisas; om kommunen beskriver hur säkerställandet av riksintresseanspråken ska ske. Studien av översiktsplanerna visar att tre av kommunerna redovisar riksintressen i ett särskilt kapitel eller bilaga. Två av kommunerna redovisar samtliga hushållningsbestämmelser och tre av kommunerna beskriver säkerställandet av åtminstone något riksintresse mer utförligt. Två av kommunerna bedöms ha ett i huvudsak fullständigt underlag i översiktsplanen för att arbeta vidare med riksintressen i planeringen och bygglovshandläggning. I kapitel 7 jämförs kommunerna i ett antal faktorer som tros påverka hur kommunen redovisat riksintressen i översiktsplanen. (94) 5 Faktorer som invånarantal, tillgång till fördjupat kunskapsunderlag och politisk styrning studeras och jämförs mellan kommunerna. I kapitel 8 redovisas intervjuer med tjänstemän och politiker i de studerade kommunerna samt de berörda länsstyrelserna. Från intervjuerna identifieras ett antal teman som viktiga att belysa. Kunskaps- och planeringsunderlaget är mycket viktigt för kommunernas planering, och översiktsplaneringen är viktig för att riksintressesystemet ska fungera. I kapitel 9 redovisas slutsatser. Slutsatsen är att det finns brister i kommunernas översiktsplaner när det gäller översiktsplanen som vägledande dokument för hur kommunen ska arbeta med områden av riksintresse i detaljplanering och bygglovshandläggning; att det finns skillnad i hur utförligt de olika riksintressena redovisas; att den kommunala organisationen kan påverka hur väl riksintressen redovisas och att det kan finnas samband mellan hur länsstyrelsen presenterar sin roll och hur kommunerna ser på sin roll.

As a result of globalization, multinational teams are being more frequently used in today´s businesses. This specific type of team can be described as heterogeneous when it comes to nationality and linguistics. The aim of this study was to explore the concept of multinational teams. This was made using culture as a main concept, and nationality, linguistics, and organizational culture in order to describe it. We intended to say something about how this type of team´s efficiency; when it comes to satisfaction and performance; was affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity within the team. While analyzing differences between the teams’ efficiency when it comes to satisfaction and performance, we also intended to say something about how organizational culture can affect this. This study was made by using a qualitative approach, with focus on a deductive way of doing it. Four different case studies were conducted in order to support this study. A total of seven different respondents where used in this study and their narratives are together with the theoretical framework the basis for this study´s analysis and conclusions. This study reveals that perceived efficiency when it comes to satisfaction and performance can be affected by national and linguistic heterogeneity among team members in multinational teams. It also suggests that organizational culture can be used in order to overshadow these differences among team members, and that this in turn affects the perceived efficiency. A straightforward answer regarding nationality, linguistic, and organizational culture´s influence on multinational team´s efficiency, was never given from the case studies. Instead, this seemed to vary from case to case. Two extremes were yet to be found. When nationality and linguistic heterogeneity were easy to observe, low efficiency was perceived in the multinational team. In contrast, when organizational culture was easy to observe, high efficiency was perceived within the multinational team. This suggests that organizational culture can override national and linguistic heterogeneity when it comes to creating high performance and satisfaction among members of multinational teams.

The intention of this essay was to conduct two comparative analytical units called, “Most Similar System Design" (MSSD). The first unit is Somalia and the other is Iraq. The main purpose of the essay is to study deeper in Somalia and Iraq’s democratization process and also to analyse the deference’s between these two countries based on democratization-process. The essay's key questions are: How did Iraq get further into the democratization-process compared to Somalia? Why couldn't Somalia make a successful democratization process like Iraq? The essay is implemented by Dankwart A. Rustows democratization factors. The results indicated that: (i) Somalia failed in its democratization-process, due to the absence of national unity and a rapid transition. One of the main obstacles was Puntland and Somaliland which hindered the national unity of Somalia. (ii) On the other hand, Iraq was different in its democratization- process. With the support of the United States, Iraq achieved great success in the unification of Iraqi civil society the embodiment of smooth transition. (iii) Finally, the conclusion indicates that: national unity, societal norms and a rapid transition were the decisive variables.

The aim of this thesis is to examine discourses that surround the role of libraries as democratic institutions. This is done by studying the proposal for a National Strategy for Libraries, The Treasure Trove of Democracy. and the reactions to that document in two library journals. The questions asked are the following: how is the democratic role depicted in the proposal for a national library strategy? What were the reactions and what discourses characterized the relationship between the two library journals and the proposal for a national strategy? Are there any lines of conflict or tension within the identified discourses? Four discourses were identified: the library-democracy discourse, the children discourse, the political-administrative discourse and judiciary-argumentative discourse. Three out of the four discourses were present in both the library journals and the proposed strategy except the library- democratic discourse which was only explicitly found in the latter. The results indicate that the tension within the child discourse concerned means rather than objectives. The political-administrative discourse concerned demarcation questions regarding the municipal self-government. The judiciary- argumentative discourse permeated the entire empirical material and was rarely contested. The library-democratic discourse was the only discourse identified which was clearly present in the proposal for a National Strategy for Libraries and not in the two library journals. We suggest that this omission could be explained against the background of that the democratic role often is taken for granted.

The need to collect electronic communications for foreign intelligence purposes has increased in the past two decades, primarily due to the increase of international threats such as terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, digitalization and technical innovation have given rise to new possibilities for government surveillance and expanded the scope of the types of communications that may be collected. This gives rise to issues concerning the balance between effective foreign intelligence activities and the protection of personal integrity. This thesis performs a comparative analysis of the protection of personal integrity in signals intelligence in Sweden and the United States, by examining the protection of personal integrity under the Swedish Instrument of Government and Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (European Convention) compared to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the requirements for signals intelligence under the Swedish Act (2008:717) on Signals Intelligence in Defense Intelligence Operations (the Surveillance Act) and § 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA, as amended). The analysis further includes a review of the safeguards adopted in each legal system to limit the collection of communications and to ensure that personal integrity is considered in signals intelligence operations. In regard to the protection of personal integrity, the analysis concludes that Swedish law, combined with the European Convention, offers a wider and more extensive protection for individuals when compared to the United States’ framework. However, all provisions include a requirement of proportionality or reasonableness intended to balance the need for effective law enforcement with the protection of personal integrity. The analysis further concludes that the Fourth Amendment has limited impact on signals intelligence carried out under § 702 FISA due to its limitations to the people of the United States, and that individuals' ability to exercise their rights is greater under the European Convention. The European Convention further offers protection beyond Sweden's borders, resulting in some protection for non-Swedish persons. As for the signals intelligence conducted under the Surveillance Act and § 702 FISA, several similarities and differences are identified. Both regulations limit the signals intelligence to be carried out for certain purposes. However, a notable difference is that, while signals intelligence under both the Surveillance Act and § 702 FISA are limited to foreign conditions, Swedish signals intelligence may be conducted on communications that cross Sweden’s borders. Meanwhile, collection under § 702 FISA may only target non-US persons outside of the United States. Despite this difference, signals intelligence under both regulations result in the collection of communications of the country’s own citizens. To limit the collection, both the Swedish National Defense Radio Establishment (Sw. Försvarets Radioanstalt, FRA) and the United States National Security Agency (NSA) apply certain safeguards. These include the use of search terms in Swedish signals intelligence and selectors in American signals intelligence. While they are both used to make relevant selections in the collection of communications, there are some notable difference between the two. For example, selectors consist of, inter alia, an email address or phone number, while search terms should not, as a general rule, target a specific individual. Further, there is no warrant requirement for collections under § 702 FISA compared to the Surveillance Act, which requires court approval. Lastly, in regard to the control and review of Swedish and American signals intelligence, the analysis concludes that such activities are conducted in different manners in both legal systems. This includes both internal and external controls. However, the Swedish control units appear to have greater opportunities to intervene by, for example, controlling the FRA's access to signal carriers and interrupting an ongoing collection if needed.

The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine the libraries' view of their own role and its relation to democracy, to identify any obstacles to the library's mission on being an inclusive public space. We do this through a qualitative content analysis, based on intersectional theory, on the proposal for a National Strategy for Libraries, The Treasure Trove of Democracy. We conclude that depictions of libraries and librarianship represented in the empirical material limits the ability to break down discriminatory structures within the institution.

This is a multimodal discourse analytical study about national identity in russian film posters specifically in regards to four themes, posters that demonstrates wars, conflicts, violence or weapons. The aim of the study is to illustrate how national identity is portrayed in russian film posters, in relation to these four above themes from the start of the Soviet union 1922, until the end of the union 1991, plus four years ahead. This is studied by looking at how these four above themes are emphasized during different time periods, how the common history is described during different time periods, which similarities and differences that can be deduced from this, and how the question “who are we as a nation?” can be deduced from the pictures. The study also discusses the problem regarding media and its potential to influence, with a focus on the film media and the film poster, since these mediums have a huge potential to create a certain imagined community. For this reason it becomes important to understand who controls the media, since the one with control also beholds the power to decide what the nation identity should consist of, and how it should be portrayed. The study shows that the national identity in russian film posters is portrayed with a strong interconnection to wars, conflicts, violence and weapons during the whole investigation period, but how these themes are portrayed differs between the early/mid Soviet period and the late/post-Soviet period. The early/mid period puts a focus mainly on a strong patriotism where the soldier and the hero are frequently used motifs, which could be interpreted as motifs that are meant to eliminate questions about death in relation to wars. This could be seen as a result of an autocratic state controlled media. The late/post period instead emphasizes a criticism interconnected with conflicts with a focus on motifs like blood and dead bodies, that could be interpreted as motifs that demonstrate the tragic consequences of a violence. This could instead be seen as a result of a media that has been affected by a public sphere that has opened up, where the citizens are allowed to voice their opinions. The similarities is henceforth that the whole investigation period emphasizes a russian hegemony that puts a focus on the “russian” of the nation. The study recommends further studies in the area, either by investigating more themes in regards to film posters and national identity, or by investigating how another country portrays the national identity or the common history, there amongst war memories, in a media material. / Det här är en multimodal diskursanalytisk studie om gestaltning av nationell identitet i ryska filmaffischer, specifikt kopplat till fyra teman, affischer som gestaltar krig, konflikter, våld eller vapen. Studien har som syfte att illustrera hur nationell identitet uttrycks i ryska filmaffischer, kopplat till dessa fyra ovan teman från Sovjetunionens start 1922, till efter dess fall 1991, och fyra år framåt. Detta studeras genom att titta på hur dessa fyra ovan teman har betonats under olika tidsperioder, hur den gemensamma historieskrivningen har gestaltats under olika tidsperioder, vilka likheter och skillnader som går att utläsa från detta, samt hur frågan om “vem är vi som nation?” kan utläsas ur bilderna. Studien diskuterar även problematiken kring media och dess påverkanspotential i speciellt avseende till filmmediet och filmaffischen, då dessa medium har potential att skapa en viss föreställd gemenskap. Problematiken blir därmed vem som har kontroll över filmmediet, då den som har kontroll är den som besitter makten att bestämma vad nationsidentiteten ska bestå av och hur den ska gestaltas. Studien visar att den nationella identiteten uppvisar en stark koppling till krig, konflikter, våld och vapen under hela undersökningsperioden, men hur dessa teman gestaltas skiljer sig dock åt från tidiga/mitt Sovjettiden till sena/post-Sovjet tiden. Den tidiga/mitt perioden lägger främst fokus på en stark patriotism där soldaten och hjälten är vanligt förekommande motiv, som kan tolkas som motiv som ska eliminera frågor om död i samband med krig. Detta kan vidare tolkas som ett resultat av att en autokratisk stat har kontrollerat media. Den sena/post perioden betonar istället en kritik i samband med konflikter genom ett fokus på motiv som blod och döda kroppar, som kan tolkas demonstrera de tragiska konsekvenserna av ett våld. Detta kan istället tolkas som ett resultat av att media har påverkats av att en offentlig sfär har öppnats upp, där medborgare får lov att uttrycka sina åsikter. Likheterna är dock att hela undersökningsperioden betonar en rysk hegemoni som lägger fokus på det “ryska” i nationen. Studien rekommenderar fortsatt forskning av området, antingen genom att undersöka fler teman kopplat till nationell identitet i filmaffischerna, eller genom undersökning av hur andra länder länder gestaltar den nationella identiteten eller den gemensamma historien, däribland krigsminnen, i ett medialt material.